G

‘DUSTIN
QUEZADA

_EV. BISHOP _

Summer

"tL was a sweltering: day i in August. She was
riding a green, new looking bicycle-up and
down Straume—the burnt brown street that
my family had just moved to from Vancou- °

-ver.« My brother and I were playing in a tepid, °
grass clipping filled, bug polluted wading pool that »
was by this point the furthest thing from refresh-
* ing that you'could imagine; but-water restrictions
‘ruled and we weren't allowed to refill it.

“Hey,” I called, finally getting up the courage

-. to call out to the strange girl with bright orange -

hair, huge freckles and eyes that matched her cool
bike. “Do you want to play.in our pool with us?”

The. girl stopped pedaling like’I’'d thrown a
rock at her. “No,” she said firmly, in a tone that.
suggested. I'd. offended her gfeatly. and. asked ”

_ something absolutely preposterous. She hopped

from her bike and stomped to her house—the one _
immediately next door to ours. .
My brother and I exchanged looks heavy with:

. indignation. -

. “What a loser!” F he said. “And she has freck-

__les—She’ s a freckle-face!”

“Yeah,” I. said, lacking his passion. I liked

; freckles.

Not one to be dissuaded from any goal very

. easily, and with Terrace being quite possibly being

the most boring place I’d ever lived, thus intensify-
ing my need-for'a friend, I decided to give her one
more chance. A few days later, 1 walked across the
lawn and knocked on her door. There was a loud
scuffling sound, and I heard her yelling, “No; Eric! -
Move!”

asked. J never got a.chance to respond. The door
burst all the way open, and there was a.slobbery
wheezing noise and a massive weight slammed -
into my chest. ] landed sprawled on my back.
Then,. worse than the blasé greeting, worse than
the surprise attack, worse than the pain of being”
flying tackled into the pavement—there was a sick,
warm puddling feeling on my belly. I met Eric.
He was a big, stupid Springer Spaniel and he had

just knocked me over and peed on-my stomach.

“He always does that. when he’s excited,” the
girl explained; sounding more matter-of-fact than:
apologetic, but still, I was encouraged. She hadn’t

_Slammed the door in my face or told me to'get lost; " |
she was even extending a hand to help me up. I

knew we were destined for friendship. ,

My instincts proved right. After getting a clean
shirt and introducing myself formally, we became
fast friends. Her name was Tara, and we decided
that we had everything i in common.

My dull, lethargic summer was transformed; I
had a co-conspirator for exploits! We both had an
insatiable appetite for harassing her teenage sister,
who was irrationally annoyed by us, especially .
when we dressed up and pretended to be scratchy
voiced “Avon Ladies Calling.” [don’t know why,
but the game always made her lose her mind, and
we'd run for our lives, laughing manically.

Lest we be unfair‘and leave any sibling tor-
ment-free, we tried to frighten my brother by tell-
ing him we were bionic—It didn't work. Howev-

er, our attempt to convince him that Eric, the pee |

monster, was a bionic dog was a.huge success and
until my mom found out, we got him to do what-
ever we wanted by telling him we'd sick bionic —
Eric on him.

. We had our own detective agency—Our block
was a cesspool of suspicious characters and shady

' going-ons, let me tell you! And we were often em-

ployed as spies. (another thing Tara’s sister really.
enjoyed)-

We invented a game called “Taxi,” incorporat-
ing an old vehicle. “chassis of my dad’s, and took -
turns being the taxi driver and various custom-

: ers. We never tired of role-playing and even let
‘my brother and other kids. play too—City cabs are

busy.

We shared apickle addiction and went througha
rather weird stage of “marrying” pickles (inspired, :
I think by the childish reasoning, “I love pickles!”
“Well, if you love’em so much, why don’t you,
marry’em?’). You may kiss the groom—Crunch!

We played endlessly at the lake (apparently we
were separated at birth mermaid twins), walked
our dogs to the candy store to buy her mom ciga-

-rettes (Wow, have times changed!), watched Happy

Days, devoured boxes of Triskets, and did a zillion °
other things as well. ,
That first summer in Terrace became the epit- |
ome of summer for me: sun (figuratively if not lit-
erally), crazy fun playtime and hanging out with
good friends. It carried a good life lesson too—Go
after what you want. A little pee never hurts any-

~ one and you just never know what good may come °

of it.

Se

The door pushed open a crack. “Yes?” she -

A HARMLESS

TERRACE STANDARD

group ’s first meeting will take place.

By DUSTIN

‘QUEZADA

enquiry
has thrust a young Terrace
‘woman into establishing a
new service group for young
adults.

Similar to its, more fa-
mous sponsor, Rotary In-
ternational, Kelly Julseth’ is

_ hoping to bring a Rotaract

group here.

_ Julseth, 24, | says
stumbled upon the role, hav-
ing been convinced to start
the group by Bill Sauer, a

~ member of the Skeena ‘Val-

ley Rotary Club.
Juiseth says having a Ro-
taract club, which is open to

young men and women aged.
18 to 30, will bring younger

she

people and their ideas into
prominence.

“Fd like to see the group
be the youth’s voice in’ Ter-
race,” said Julseth. “I'd like
to see something that would
make a difference... to make
changes that’ll make a dif-
feretice.” 5

The younger membership
brings more workers. and
new professionals but its
mandate differs little from
Rotary.

Rotary _ is a worldwide,

organization of business

and professional leaders that ©:
-provides humanitarian ser- 7

vice, encourages high ethical

«standards in all vocations,

and helps build goodwill and
peace in the world, *
“We're required to do one

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - B1

- Bill Sauer’ —

‘community: service , project
- and one international service -

project per year, plus recruit-

ey Truckin’ into summer

GRADUATING Skeena Junior Secondary students Scott Comerford, left, and Andrew Charneski cap p the
last day at school by racing monster trucks outside the school. The 1/10th scale model trucks are hand-
made by students in metal works courses, except for the 12-volt battery.

w

ment,”
no stranger to this type of
work. She has been involved .
in the Katimavik program,
was a member of .the po-

litical studies association in .

a

university. and. twice was in
-Ottawa_ for. five-day ‘model

United Nations conferences.

Her mother was also a mem- -

- ber of the local Skeena Ro-
tary group. , ,

: While similar to: its.
cousin, Rotaract clubs draw. -
, younger people because the
dues are more reasonable:

' (Julseth said the annual fees.
. are yet to be determined) and

‘the group. meets every two.
weeks instead of weekly. -

“Tt’s a lot less intense than
the regular Rotary,” Julseth |
added, ,

DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO

said Julseth, who is _

KELLY Julseth hopes young adults i in Terrace will embrace a new Rotaract service group. Interest will be measured next week when'‘the’-
. a> 6 DUSTIN QUEZADA PHOTO

an . oe
« . .
i e me

ct 3 .
oe a.

-)

“Sauer, who is’ Rotary’s|

assistant governor for the’ ~
Northwest, says with yearly ©
fees exceeding $200, Rotary ..
can be a little too much for —

Some younger adults.

“If you’re not in a busi-, °

hess or working . full time,
‘you’ might not. have. the fi-
nances,” “said Sauer, adding.

there’s currently nothing for
‘young adults who would like’ ~

to perform community, ser-
vice in Terrace. .. wee

Sauer adds ‘he’s not. wor-, _
ried of losing possible mem-.
-bers tothe Rotaract, group ©
because if they enjoy it and -
_ Stay here, they’Il likely end.
up joining the. established i

" BrQUps.

ve

Julseth, who. ‘eamed her:
° Bachelor ‘of Arts-in Intérna- -
tional Relations from Okana-
gan University College, says”
she’s excited to be a part of. .
a new group that will decide ..
. for itself what ‘it: would like ;

tofocuson.*° . |

“We can take. it in “any
direction we want, ”. she add-
ed.

their skills,” Julseth said. «

Sauer will act.as a men-.
. tor to the group, helping to.
‘set up its, charter, continu-,
ing to remind: what Rotary,
is and helping with: service

Projects. oo ‘

_ “Hopefully, we'll have .
“ quite a unique -bond ‘be-
Sauer. .

tween. the “clubs,” |
said. “Hopefully we get lots.

of young adults with 1 good 7

The proposed group will .
hold. its first meeting/infor-

mational session a week to-
night, Wednesday, July 5. at
the Coast Inn of the West at
7 p.m.

638-7283

It's recommended a.new ©.
Rotaract group has 15 mem-
bers. to-start. If:that number *.
is met, there would then be. -
yearly elections: for: ‘theex- ©
ecutive 0. ea .
1 Julseth says she'd in run for ,
* the presidency but is hopeful. ;
- there will be a range, of c can-, ey
didates. So -
_.. “P'd like to see the: young: .
- er: people’. with. their..fresh ©
ideas and the older people:
with. their” know-how: and.

fe A tal